Accusing the administration of humiliating them in the talks which have since failed, students of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad have laid seige to the building and stated that their 'lock down' protest would continue until the Director and Registrar from Mumbai campus come and address their concerns. Camping at the administration building, students protested by sleeping there over night and refuses to let classes take place.
The students have been protesting almost for a week demanding the administration roll back their decision to make the Hyderabad campus, a non-residential one. They also demand that the administration reverse their decision to scrap the BA Social Sciences course for the next academic year. On Thursday, the protesting students and the Deputy Director had a meeting to resolve the crisis. However, the students claimed that the administration didn't pay heed to their demands and through a press release informed them that they were extremely disappointed and anguished with the humiliation they faced in the discussion.
The students wrote, "Despite the student community's persistence, the administration continued to be extremely indifferent towards the demands and concerns put forth by the student body."
The students claimed that the administration later made no efforts to reach out to the protesting students, as a result they have intensified their struggle by vowing to agitate until the Director Shalini Bharat, Registrar C P Mohan Kumar and Deputy Registrar M P Balamurugan visit the Hyderabad campus and address the general body.
TNM earlier spoke to the Deputy Director Shiva Raju, TISS Hyderabad, where he claimed that they have only 'deferred' the BA course, which will be re-introduced later, and regarding the shutting down of hostels, he said that the move to make the campus non-residential was because the Hyderabad campus didn't have their own facility. Presently, the Hyderabad campus functions on infrastructure leased out by the Panchayat Raj department in Rajendra Nagar.
Notwithstanding the clarifications offered by the administration, the students say that the decision taken by the administration would affect the SC, ST and OBC students who are economically weak.